Norm of Internality and Evaluation of Professional Worth in an Organizational Context

In this research, we studied the influence of the n orm of internality on a professional evaluation task. 44 executives were asked to evaluate applicants for a job promotion. T hey were provided with two kinds of information regarding the candida te: a/ an evaluation of the target’s previous job performance (excellent / medium) by a supervisor; and b/ the target’s answer s (internal / external) to an internality questionnaire. The depe ndant variables measured (1) the professional worth of the applican t and (2) access to judgement criteria by the executives. Results sh owed that excellent candidates were preferred to medium, and more importantly, that internal candidates were preferred to external ones. Both factors (job performance and internality) are equal ly important in the proportion of variance they explained. Neverthe less, executives estimated that job performance was the main criteri on they used to judge the applicant. This difference between object ive and subjective weight of the two factors (as well as co rrelation analysis) shows that subjects did not systematicall y have access to judgement criteria